The England international is out for six to eight weeks with an ankle injury while Coutinho managed just 25 minutes because of his own ankle problem and Rodgers suggested that it was evident the pair were missing as they surprisingly crashed 3-1 to Hull City at the KC Stadium.

"There is no doubt that when you don't have a player of that quality (Sturridge), then it affects your team and we don't have a big enough squad to cope with a few players missing and that will always be the case," Rodgers told Sky Sports.

"(If we've) got two or three of our players that are regulars in our team missing then we're a different team."

He added: "Daniel is out for up to eight weeks which is a big blow for us and Philippe didn't train all week. He had injections just to get on the bench.

"It's difficult if you take those two out, two players who have been very efficient for us this season."